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THE JUDICIARY UNDER THE DICTATORSHIP
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CARLOS CONTRERAS: THE LETTER
"Letter to the parents of Mr. Carlos Contreras Maluje"
From Detenidos Desaparecidos: Una Herida Abierta,
Patricia Verdugo and Claudio Orrego V. 1983
To the parents of Mr. Carlos Contreras Maluje:
On Wednesday, November 3 (1976), at 11.30 a.m., between Aconcagua Street and Nataniel Street, you son Carlos Contreras Maluje was arrested by DINA agents. The incident began when a bus ... ran over a person who was wounded on the head. When the bus passengers attempted to help him, a Carabineros police jeep arrived and a Carabineros officer and a policeman got out. Between them they distanced the crowd that had gathered around the wounded man, and who was in a state of semi-consciousness. Those watching the scene from a certain distance could see that the wounded man was recovering consciousness. Not one minute had gone by when a car arrived from which three civilians got out and surrounded the wounded man. On seeing them, the man began shouting that the men surrounding him were DINA agents who were about to arrest him. He screamed for help, saying they were the same men who had tortured him that day. That's when he shouted that his name was Carlos Contreras Maluje and asked for people to tell his parents of his arrest at the Maluje drugstore in Concepción. Very quickly, your son was picked up by these individuals and they dragged him to the car... Once there, after a long struggle, your son was forced into the vehicle while he still screamed out his name and asked the 30 or more people who surrounded him helplessly to do something. Finally, after covering his mouth, they placed him in the back seat of the car and they quickly drove away toward Matta Avenue via Nataniel Street.
I am relating these events to you with the hope that you can do something for your son. Try to understand, that for obvious reasons I cannot give you my name, but I was a witness to these events. I am a modest employee who, at one time supported the military Junta; I no longer do so, now that I am troubled by the criminal brutality employed to repress our people, our middle class, the whole country. I hope you find your son.
I hope you find him alive. Wishing you faith and hope.
A friend.
[Carlos Contreras was never seen or heard from again, and remains disappeared to this day.]
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